The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program for processing information, and in particular, relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program for processing information so designed as to be effective in playback processing or output processing.
Conventionally, in the case of imaging a subject with an imaging apparatus such as a video camera, in order to provide a variety of video effects, there is a method for e.g. varying the number of obtained frames per second by varying the number of times of outputting data per second at an imager such as a CCD.
With this method, it is possible to perform high-speed imaging which brings about low-speed playback (slow-motion playback) at the time of normal playback by capturing an image at higher speed than in the case of normal imaging (increasing the number of times of capturing, that is, increasing the number of times of photoelectric conversion processing per second at the imager), and low-speed imaging which brings about high-speed playback (fast-forward playback) at the time of the normal playback by decreasing the number of times of capturing the image (i.e., decreasing the number of times of the photoelectric conversion processing per second at the imager), as well as the normal imaging for capturing the image at the same rate as a playback rate (the number of played-back frames per second) of the normal playback (i.e., controlling the number of times of the photoelectric conversion processing per second at the imager to obtain a frame of image data at the same rate as the playback rate).
To be specific, for example, there has been a method for varying an imaging frame rate which is the number of frames of an image obtained with photoelectric conversion at a CCD per second, by controlling a retrace time added to an imaging signal obtained by imaging a subject, with an image signal of the imaging frame rate being an image signal of a CDR system (Common Data Rate: a common sampling frequency system). Further, there has been a method for obtaining an image signal of an output frame rate by generating an image signal of an imaging frame rate and performing frame addition using the image signal of the imaging frame rate. Furthermore, there has been a method for generating an image signal of an output frame rate based on a frame rate setting signal from an image signal of an imaging frame rate by switching the number of additional frames at frame addition in the case where the image signal of the output frame rate based on the frame rate setting signal cannot be obtained even though the imaging frame rate is varied within a specified period (see patent document 1, for example).
Further, there are cases where, for example, an image captured by a CCD with a progressive system is converted into interlaced-system data, or a film image is converted into interlaced-system data, that is, a system of the obtained image data is converted.
Patent document 1: WO 03/063472 A1
In the case of playing back the image data obtained with the image capture rate varied and the converted image data at the time of imaging as described above, effects of outputted images on which the same normal playback is performed differ depending on processing performed on the data at the time of imaging, and there is a problem that it is difficult for a user who plays back the data to grasp correctly what kind of processing has been performed on the data.
In particular, in the case where persons, places, or dates differ between in imaging work and playback and edit work due to large-scale production work such as production of a TV program, it is difficult for an editor who conducts the edit work to grasp correctly what kind of setting a photographer who conducts the imaging work has chosen to image a subject and obtain image data to be edited.
Further, it is desirable to output image data with the interlaced system if the image data has been captured with the interlaced system at the time of imaging for example, but it is possible to output image data converted into data with the progressive system again if the image data has been captured with the progressive system and converted into data with the interlaced system. However, in the case of playing back and outputting image data that has been converted from the progressive system to the interlaced system, there is a problem that a player which is a playback output apparatus cannot play back image data except with the interlaced system because the image data consists with the interlaced system.